Straylight Run breaks from label
Published Nov. 10, 2006
Michelle Nolan describes her band, Straylight Run, as "beautiful, musical, magical," and I couldn't agree more. Ever since the group formed in 2003, after Nolan's brother John and his band mate Shaun Cooper left Taking Back Sunday, Straylight Run has created lyrical masterpieces.
"John and Shaun left Taking Back Sunday, and they were kind of in a place where they wanted to do something different than what they had been doing," Nolan said. "The new thing they were doing, they didn't want to be constricted to playing the same type of songs over and over again."
The result of this "new thing" was Straylight Run and its own brand of experimental rock. We're not talking jam-band craziness, just rock music that is devoid of genre constraints - a mix of indie, emo and piano rock.
When the band formed with the two Nolans, Cooper and drummer Will Noon, it found itself contractually obligated by Victory Records to release one full-length album and one EP.
"Now we're not on their label, and we're free to go to any label that we want," Michelle Nolan said.
With the upcoming release of a new album and the new song on its MySpace.com profile, the band is taking some time to tour.
The self-titled album was released in 2004 and became a hit with fans of John Nolan's previous work.
He was known for writing most of Taking Back Sunday's lyrical content and some of the band's best hits, including "There's No 'I' in Team," a song about a fight he had with Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey. John Nolan's lyrical talent is what makes Straylight Run stand out in the sea of indie-emo bands.
"John or I write the songs with a guitar or piano - lyrics, melody and core progression - and then we play it," Nolan said. "There are a couple of songs that we write together. I write about things that affect me and my life."
Fan reactions to the new material have been positive.
"People at the shows are somehow singing along," Nolan said.
But "There's No 'I' in Team" track is a standout on the album.
"It's not our new sound or anything," she said. "It has more horns, and other songs have horns. On one song, someone from the Dropkick Murphys plays the mandolin and accordion. Things like that are different for us."
Nolan said she is happy with the band's progression.
"We're going in a new direction, but I think that, hopefully, with every record we will evolve in some way," Nolan said.
Touring works as a test of this new progression; it plays about three to four songs per show.
"For us, it's really exciting to play new things," Nolan said. "For the most part, we've been playing the same songs for the past three years. We hope people are interested in hearing them."